History of Wabash County, Indiana, Volume I, Part 20

Author: Weesner, Clarkson W., 1841-1924
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1020


USA > Indiana > Wabash County > History of Wabash County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 20


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though they are of late invention, have been sufficiently tested to be introduced without hesitation.


DRAWBACKS TO SETTLING THE UPPER WABASII


"The cause which has hitherto prevented the true advantages of this delightful valley from being known is found in the extreme difficulty of gaining access to it by any of the established routes of Indiana. The . Wabash River, susceptible as it is of improvements which would secure a constant navigation has, until lately, furnished an uncertain thorough- fare. A journey to the Upper Wabash from the Ohio River, by land, owing to the extreme roughness of the roads, the difficulty of obtaining suitable vehicles and accommodations, and withal the distance, was one of extreme fatigue, while all approach from Lake Erie by the Indian trails and traces of the Maumee River could be undertaken only with a single horse, and often at a risk of long and serious detention, from innumerable by-paths and streams almost impassable. The single pioneer and hardy hunter could indeed press through these obstacles; but the emigrant with his family could travel only the more convenient routes along the borders of the state.


"Thousands in this way emigrating from our eastern seaports have passed from Buffalo to Detroit, thence to Chicago, and finally settled on the lake shore or near the water courses. This facility of water com- munication has already caused the settlement of parts of Michigan. The enterprise of her citizens has opened roads to the interior and southern portions of her growing state, and many are now emigrating thence to adjoining portions of Indiana. Those, who after a short residence in Michigan dispose of lands at $15 or $25 per acre, can find tracts even more productive at $1.25 in Indiana.


"Such have been the causes which existed to retard the settlement of Northern and Northwestern Indiana. They are now rapidly disap- pearing ; a few months more will witness their complete removal, and an emigration to a spot so well fitted by nature to sustain it will take place, hitherto unprecedented even in the history of western settlements. The magnificent internal improvement schemes of Indiana, involving an ex- pense of many millions, are fast developing the vast extent of her re- sources, and opening in all directions certain avenues of quick communi- cation to the enterprising settler.


STATUS OF WABASH AND ERIE CANAL


"During the ensuing year (1839) the Wabash and Erie Canal, a work condneted by the states of Ohio and Indiana and designed to form an


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HISTORY OF WABASHI COUNTY


important link in the great chain of communication now opening be- tween the Mississippi River and the city of New York will be completed. At the present time boats are running daily from Logansport to Fort Wayne, a distance of about eighty miles. The heavy sections on the remaining portion of the canal between Lafayette, the head of steam- boat navigation on the Wabash, and Logansport, are now completed, and the lighter are in progress and will soon be finished.


"From the vigorous exertions of Ohio and the time as settled by con- traet, there is little doubt but what that portion of the canal which passes through her territory will be completed by the 1st of October, 1839. The opening of this canal throughout its whole extent will indeed be a proud era for the Wabash valley; and furnishing, as it does, the most direct and natural channel of communication between the East and the West, we can hardly estimate the travel that will flow in this direction.


"The opening of the Erie and Wabash Canal will afford an imme- diate outlet for much of the produce of this and adjoining counties. The main channel for the exportation of produce heretofore has been the Wabash River, by means of which vast quantities have been shipped ammally to the states bordering on the Mississippi and to New Orleans. Many exceedingly profitable speenlations have been made in pork, and a large amount is put up every season. Investments of capital, yield- ing great returns, can easily be made from well conducted stock farms, by raising and pressing hay for the southern markets, from wheat, corn ete. The recent introduction of labor-saving machines, all of which are admirably calculated for the prairies, has materially reduced the former expense of cultivation.


A CONVERT TO PRAIRIE LAND


"One great cause of the immediate growth of the Wabash valley is the number of prairies, prepared, as it were, by nature for the plough. Thousands of aeres can be found, even now, as well fitted for producing erops as the most highly mannred and rolled lands of the old settle- ments. Such is its fertility that over 100 bushels of corn, 40 bushels of wheat and 70 bushels of oats are easily raised upon a single aere. Some individuals have been enltivating upwards of 1,000 acres of grain, the whole of which is readily disposed of at the highest prices. Other tracts of similar extent are sowed in grass, and the hay sold at an immense profit in the southern markets.


"The question of the comparative value of timber lands and prairie is decided by important facts in favor of the latter. The cost of a single Vol. 1-12


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acre of each will be the same, but the comparative expense of cultiva- tion will be found as 1 to 3 in favor of the prairies. From $3 to $9 per acre, including the first cost, is an ample allowance for the complete arrangement and cultivation of a prairie farm, while the sum of $12 per acre is the lowest price for simply clearing timber land, which is left for many years encumbered with unsightly stumps and roots. The soil of the prairies, too, is generally more productive than that of timber land. Portions of prairie, far remote from timber, can be easily supplied by sowing the seed of the black walnut or locust. Four or five years are sufficient to produce a growth of timber suitable for fuel and other pur- poses. Sod fences, with a hedge of locust or the hawthorn, are found to be better and far neater than the ordinary ones heretofore in use, while the recent improvements in ditching machines render their construction comparatively cheap and easy. Many of these hedges are already found upon the prairies, and they will soon constitute the outer and division fences of extensive prairie farms. The surface of the prairies, from its smoothness, is admirably adapted for the successful operation of numer- ons labor-saving machines of recent origin. By the use of the ditching machines, before mentioned, it is estimated that fences may be made upon the prairies at the astonishing low price of fifteen eents per acre, while the ditch answers a most valuable purpose in draining moist lands."


RAISING HOGS FOR MARKET (1838)


The following is from a letter written by IIon. O. II. Smith, United States senator from Indiana, who was one of the successful live stock raisers of the West of 1838: "The next branch of your inquiry in relation to the raising and feeding of hogs or swine has received more of my personal attention than that of grazing cattle or of raising horses. Living in the center of the White Water valley, where the great and almost the exclusive produce for exportation has been pork, my attention has necessarily been more directed to that subject than the others named. "The lands which we call first-rate corn lands, are generally alluvial bottom lands, or walnut or burr oak table-lands. These lands, properly cultivated, produce about the average of sixty-five bushels of corn to the aere; some of the very best produce eighty bushels to the acre, and are cultivated for successive years in corn. A statement of my own operations for a few years past will partially illustrate the process adopted in that part of Indiana in which I reside, in the pork business. I have had in cultivation in corn, for several years past, 160 acres of river bottom lands. The most of these lands have been in cultivation in corn about fifteen years without intermission and without manure. The


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HISTORY OF WABASII COUNTY


average crop has been, since I have tilled them, about 65 bushels of corn to the acre. I plant my corn, generally, about the first of May; it is laid by, about the middle of July, and by the middle of September it is suffi- ciently hard to commence the feeding of my hogs. At this time I purchase of those who raise them, the stock required to eat off my corn; say about three and a half hogs to the acre, which is about the proper number to eat an acre of corn in thirteen weeks-the usual time allowed to make our pork from ordinary stock hogs.


"My course of feeding is this: My fields contain from twenty to thirty acres each, all well watered. At the proper season, I turn my hogs into a field, and after it is eaten off clean I pass them into another, and so on, until I have fed off my erop, when my hogs are ready for market. The profits of the operation depend much upon the price and quality of the stock, and the price pork may bear in the market. But for several years past it has been an excellent agricultural business. When I first commeneed this kind of stock, a few years ago, 1 very naturally supposed, by turning them into the field of ungathered corn great waste would be the inevitable consequence, and I had my corn pulled and fed to them in a dry lot. But I soon became satisfied, by inspecting the operations of my neighbors who had been for years in the business, that my labor and expense of feeding in this manner was entirely thrown away, and I abandoned it.


"Ilogs gather corn in the field with little or no waste, provided the fields or lots in which they are fed are proportioned in size to the num- ber of hogs fed upon them, which should be in the proportion of 100 hogs to five or six acres of corn. The hogs should be regularly salted while feeding, and running water should be accessible at all times to them. By feeding in this way, I find that my hogs improve more rapidly and my lands increase in value yearly, although I have never put a shovelful of manure upon them. This may be accounted for by the fact that the stalks, husks, etc., are brought down to rot upon the lands through the winter, to be ploughed under in the spring; and so the process goes on year after year, the land receiving again the most of all that is raised upon it.


"Before I leave the subject of feeding swine, I would suggest that very much of the success depends upon the breed of the animal, as well as the manner of his feeding when young. There is one simple fact that should never be lost sight of by the feeder or raiser of this stock, and that is, if you once put a hog upon high feed you should never diminish it, or the animal will scarcely ever regain his former healthful and improving condition; or, in other words, when you commence the fat- tening process you should continue until the animal is killed."


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HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY


Continuation by author: "The great profits of stock-farming will be readily perceived. Corn, as will appear from Mr. Smith's experience, can be raised and delivered on the stalk at five cents per bushel; since his actual cost for 65 bushels (an average erop per aere) for several years, was but $350. Ilogs fed thus in field require no additional expenditures except the sum required for salting. Such has been the experience of other individuals, some of whom have fattened for the market yearly upwards of 1,000 hogs. The great demand for pork existing in the southern markets, together with the immense profits that attend its sale, are too well known to need a further mention. The pork business, in its various branches, has furnished the commencement and completion of many of those splendid fortunes which are found in the larger cities of the Western world.


REARING FINE CATTLE


"Others have devoted their attention to rearing fine stock cattle, and with great success. Stoek of this description can be kept fat on the prairie pastures during summer, and will live well on blue grass fields throughout the winter. It is better, however, to provide fodder and allow them shelter. Selections of cattle and other stock, as breeds, can be made to great advantage from the rare collections to be found in portions of Ohio and Kentucky. The profit on 500 heifers at $5 (the average cost) is readily perceived. Working oxen of large size, which can easily be procured at $50, will bring in Michigan from $100 to $125 per yoke; and large numbers have during the past year been driven thither from the valley of the Wabash. The cost of driving oxen to an eastern market will not exceed $5 per head, or they may be sent in flat- boats to the Southern states at an expense but trifling, when compared with the returns.


MANUFACTURE OF BEET SUGAR


"Beet sugar manufacture offers another advantageous mode for the investment of capital. From eighteen to twenty tons of sugar beets are calculated as the product of an acre. This, allowing eight per cent of sugar, gives 3,200 pounds which, estimated at ten cents per pound, will give $320 to the acre. The residue of beets, after an extraction of the saccarine matter, is much used in England for the manufacture of fine paper. The cultivation of the beet, with reference to sugar, is an employment well adapted, on a small scale, to private families. Much of the labor requisite can be performed indoors, and will furnish an


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HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY


agreeable occupation for long winter evenings. Would it not literally tend to sweeten life, to raise a few barrels of choice sugar from a garden patch ? This is done with much success in France, where labor is high, and the rent of land, eight, ten and twelve dollars per acre."


AN OVERDONE PROPHECY


The author then goes on to picture the vast agricultural importance of both the Wabash and Maumee valleys, some five hundred miles in ex- tent, whose grand outlet was to be the Wabash & Erie Canal. Sup- posing them solidly cultivated for an average breadth of twenty miles, it was estimated that the crop of wheat would amount to 336,000,000 bushels (average of twenty bushels to the acre) and that of eorn, 672,- 000,000 bushels (average, forty bushels). The 1912 crop reports show that the banner corn state ( Illinois) had to be content with 426,000,000 bushels of corn, and North Dakota, which led in wheat production, with 143,000,000 bushels. And at the time that the Wabash valley editor was such a prophet, Mr. Obed Hussey, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was just commencing to introduce his reaping machine, which he was manufactur- ing in Baltimore, Maryland, Hussey's Reaping Machine, which was "war- ranted to out fifteen aeres of heavy wheat in a day, the grain taken as clean and left in as good order for binding as when cut by the seythe or siekle."


IT SEEMED LOGICAL THEN


In January, 1837, the Hon. HI. L. Ellsworth, thus speaks of the bright outlook for the Wabash Valley, which had been much neglected : "Five thousand persons left Buffalo in one day to go up the lake, and yet not one went into the valley of the Wabash. A slight inspection of the maps of Indiana, Ohio and Illinois, will show a direet route to the Mississippi from the west end of Lake Erie, to be up the Maumee and down the Wabash Valley to Lafayette. It therefore may be con- sidered certain that when the railroad from St. Louis to Lafayette is completed the great travel from the Mississippi valley to the east will be by the lakes through the Wabash and Erie Canal, the shortest and quickest route by several days. A person at the mouth of the Ohio will pass up to St. Louis, then take the railroad and eanal to Lake Erie, in preference to following the meanders of the Ohio River in a steam- boat. Can there be a doubt on this subject ?


"What time will be occupied on this route to New York? Not ex- ceeding six days. From St. Louis to Lafayette (240 miles) one day may


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HISTORY OF WABASHI COUNTY


be allowed; from Lafayette to the lake, at the rate of from four and a half to five miles per hour on the eanal (now in operation a considerable part of the way), forty-eight hours; on the lake twenty-four hours; and from the lake to New York City, via railroad (now commeneed), not exceeding two days.


"You may ask, What will be the markets for Indiana? I answer, New York and New Orleans-the former by the Erie canal and the latter by the Wabash River (navigable to Lafayette for steamboats) and by the railroad above named to St. Louis, also to Montreal by the Welland eanal. A choice of all these markets, equally accessible, is presented to the farmers in the Wabash Valley; and one particular advantage this valley possesses over Michigan and Wisconsin is the early navigation of the Wabash River. The produce of this valley can, by this river, pass down to New Orleans in flat-boats, free of toll, and be transported to Charleston, Baltimore, New York and Boston, six weeks before the New York canal opens. This early market may be estimated as a good profit in business."


FARMERS OF WABASH COUNTY ORGANIZE


It was not until the early '50s that the farmers of Wabash County commenced to organize "for the encouragement of agriculture." This movement was the result of the legislative act of February 14, 1851, under which a State Board of Agriculture was formed, with the governor, Jo- seph A. Wright, as president, and John B. Dillon, as secretary. On the 4th of the succeeding June, the State Board issued a circular suggesting to the farmers of Indiana the formation of county and distriet societies for the "encouragement of agriculture."


On January 12, 1852, the following (with others whose names are not of record) met at Wabash and organized a county society: William T. Ross (president ), John L. Knight (secretary), Alanson P. Ferry (treas- urer), Stearns Fisher, William Ross (Chester Township), Calvin Cow- gill, F. Bouse, L. B. Musselman, Daniel Jackson, T. B. McCarty and Henry MePherson.


FIRST FAIR, WITH OUTCOME


The first fair of the Wabash County Agricultural Society was held October 20 and 21, 1853, on the plat of ground between the old mill race and the canal, south of the round house of the Cincinnati, Wabash & Michigan Railroad Company. Considering the newness of the enter- prise, the attendance was large. Treasurer Ferry shows how the fair "came out :"


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HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY


To amount received of secretary as fees for membership. $163.00


Received out of county treasury. 47.00


Received for rent of Fair Ground. 4.00


Received on sales of property after the fair 13.00


Received for admission fees 69.00


Total received $296.25


By cash paid as premiums. $128.00


By cash paid as incidentals 101.66


Total amount paid out.


$229.66


Leaving in the treasury $ 66.59


IMPROVEMENTS NOTED IN 1854


The report of the president for 1854 says: "The second annual fair was held on the 5thi and 6th days of October at Wabash and, was at- tended by mimerous citizens from every part of the county, and many from adjoining counties. There was an address delivered on the sec- ond day of the fair by John M. Wheeler, Esq., of this county. There are about 200 members belonging to the society, and the lively concern which many of them feel to promote its best interests are indications of its onward progress and future usefulness. Indeed, it is almost a matter of astonishment to witness the rapid change that has taken place among our farmers in the way of improving the breeds of their domes- tie animals since the organization of this society, which, without doubt, has been the exclusive cause of emulating them to so praiseworthy an enterprise."


WABASH AS A PACKING CENTER


The report goes on to state that during the year 1853, 3,500 hogs were slaughtered and packed in the City of Wabash, the aggregate weight of which was 700,000. The revenue derived from these at $3 and $3.50 per hundred would represent a respectable income to the paekers and, indeed, to the pork raisers. It was also stated that as a result of the fairs, the efforts of the society and the general awakening of the farmers, the quality and yield of wheat, corn, oats, rye, barley and the grasses had greatly improved.


The fourth annual fair in 1856 was held on the grounds chosen by the officers of the society directly west of Wabash on the hill "opposite


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HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY


a curve in the railroad." At this show, as at others for a number of years, the farmers made the strongest exhibits in hogs and corn. Cattle and horses were also coming to the front.


CORN AND WHEAT IN 1857


As to the general status of the two chief grain crops, at this period, the following from the 1857 report is instructive: "The large yellow and white and mixed colored varieties are planted. The ground is plowed deeply, then harrowed and sometimes rolled. The corn is planted about the first of May. The after cultivation is effected by using the plow three times and the cultivator twice. The average yield is about fifty bushels to the acre, produced at a cost of about $5. The erop finds a market at Wabash. The cultivator is widely used in raising this erop."


As to wheat the report says: "The Genesee and blue stems are esteemed the best varieties. The method of preparing the ground is to plow deep, harrow, and after to drill the seed; and sometimes the ground is rolled in the spring. The seed is sown about the 1st of Sep- tember at the rate of one and a half bushels per acre. The average yield is twenty bushels; harvest generally takes place about the 6th of July and the crop is generally cut by the reapers. The surplus product finds a market in the town of Wabash, where the price during the season has averaged eighty-seven and a half cents per bushel. Great improve- ments have been made in the county during the last few years in plant- ing and harvesting wheat. The drill is now largely used in putting it in, and the reaper is almost invariably used in securing the crop."


PROGRESS OF THE SOCIETY


By 1858 the membership of the society had increased to over five hundred, and the regular annual fairs continued to increase in interest for many years. In 1879 the fair grounds were enlarged by the purchase of 216 acres to east of the original tract, and from year to year the exhibition and administrative buildings were improved, as well as increased in number. One noticeable feature of each successive fair was the gradual falling off in the exhibits of hogs and the improve- ment in the number and quality of the horse and cattle display.


STATUS OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES


This society, which was organized in 1852, continued to hold annual fairs, and reached its greatest prosperity from 1870 to 1880, both in


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HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY


attendance and receipts, and the general display. On January 23, 1889. the society, not being very prosperous, conveyed the remainder of the real estate which it held on West Hill Street, to the City of Wabash for park purposes, reserving the right for the public to use a portion of it at any and all proper times, for public meetings together with the right to erect booths or buildings for public use. The old agricultural society,. as such, went out of existence.


A stock company was afterwards organized and purchased ground just north of Treaty Creek, which it improved and on which it held annual fairs for several years, when it became involved for want of sup- port, and the land and buildings were sold, and thus ended the agricul- tural societies in Wabash.


A Tri-County Fair Association was organized at North Manchester, which still continues to hold annual fairs.


A society of farmers and merchants have an organization, and make annual exhibits in the City of Wabash, but at present has no home of its own, using buildings and spaces for its exhibits. The attendance and display are very creditable.


CORN, OATS AND WHEAT (1914)


From the returns to the county assessor, the last of which were re- ceived in May, 1914, a definite idea is obtained of the comparative sources of wealth embraced under the comprehensive classification of Agriculture. From which we glean the following regarding the three chief cereal crops of Wabash County :


Acreage


Bushels


Corn


48,993


2,236,658


Oats


26,329


658,110


· Wheat


16,649


364,499


FORAGE CROPS


There were also raised for the year 1913, 19,956 tons of clover hay from 16,773 acres of land, and 16,279 tons of timothy from an acreage of 15,168. Less than 350 tons of alfalfa were raised from 135 acres.


LIVE STOCK


The 8.872 horses and colts in Wabash County have a selling value of $1,136,475.


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HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY


The eattle were numbered at 16,343, with a valuation of $577,151, and the 5,364 milch cows were assessed at $269,335. Dairy products : Milk produced in 1913, 2,400,410 gallons valued at $306,940; cream, 121,019 gallons, $54,590; butter, 304,603 pounds, $70,071. Total cattle (including milch cows) with their annual products, $1,287,087. On Jan- uary 1, 1914, the farmers of Wabash County had 30,546 hogs on hand which they valued at $328,354; 5,744 sheep, $28,375, and 11,729 laying hens, $62,837. The last named had produced 1,113,116 dozen eggs, valued at $187,597. It is quite likely that within the memory of this generation the modest, industrious hen, will supplant the noisily aggres- sive hog as a valuable source of revenue to the citizens of Wabash County.




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